You're lucky, it's a well-researched surname.
Hibbard is an English name, deriving from Herbert. Variations on this surname are Hebbard, Hebard, Hibbert, Hibberts, Hibberd, Hibberds, Hibert, Hiberts, Herbert, Hibard, Herberts and Hibbards. Most sources would say that Hubbard is a different name, though; Hubbard comes from the name Hubert which means "bright mind", or just "clever".
But that's pretty close to Herbert, which means "bright army", or just "bright army man". And sometimes Hibbard will have mutated into Hubbard because people couldn't spell very well (in days when most folk were illiterate, or immigration officials just spelled a new immigrant's name how they liked). So you can't say Hibbard and Hubbard are always separate lines.
Herbert is a German name in origin, but became common in England in the middle ages. Hibbard translated in old English to mean "descendent of Herbert".
Many Americans with the surname Hibbard descended from Robert Hibbard and his wife Joanna Luff (Luffe) who in 1635 travelled from Salisbury, Wiltshire, England to Salem, MA. www.hibbardfamily.net started in 1993. It sends out newsletters and helps descendents of Robert and Joanna Hibbard coordinate their family history research efforts.
Hibbard is an English name, deriving from Herbert. Variations on this surname are Hebbard, Hebard, Hibbert, Hibberts, Hibberd, Hibberds, Hibert, Hiberts, Herbert, Hibard, Herberts and Hibbards. Most sources would say that Hubbard is a different name, though; Hubbard comes from the name Hubert which means "bright mind", or just "clever".
But that's pretty close to Herbert, which means "bright army", or just "bright army man". And sometimes Hibbard will have mutated into Hubbard because people couldn't spell very well (in days when most folk were illiterate, or immigration officials just spelled a new immigrant's name how they liked). So you can't say Hibbard and Hubbard are always separate lines.
Herbert is a German name in origin, but became common in England in the middle ages. Hibbard translated in old English to mean "descendent of Herbert".
Many Americans with the surname Hibbard descended from Robert Hibbard and his wife Joanna Luff (Luffe) who in 1635 travelled from Salisbury, Wiltshire, England to Salem, MA. www.hibbardfamily.net started in 1993. It sends out newsletters and helps descendents of Robert and Joanna Hibbard coordinate their family history research efforts.